


Kith and Kin

by Ageofavalon



Series: Nine Lives: The Miscellanea [2]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Light Angst, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Nightmares, Protective Siblings, Returning Home, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-05-18 14:43:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19336630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ageofavalon/pseuds/Ageofavalon
Summary: As they bring each other home, their family only grows.Those dear to them will become dear to them all.





	1. Aryll, Outset Island

**Author's Note:**

> So the new chapter of Nine Lives is fighting me desperately. In an attempt to force my brain to behave, I wrote the first part of this new side series over the course of two days. Fluffy and soppy, it's a bit of a departure from the main narrative but it was a lot of fun to write and I hope you like it as much as I do.
> 
> This set of stories will be focused on the family and friends of our beloved boys, and how they welcome the group into their lives. 
> 
> Community is a marvellous thing.

\---

Aryll hadn’t expected an adventure to come to her that day.

 

She’d been up the lookout, as usual, greeting the dawn with her telescope in hand and several gulls keeping her company. It was normal for her to be up with the sun now, as a pirate ship never truly slept and an early morning was the standard for all crew members. She’d been very proud to have been counted as crew while on Tetra’s ship. It had been fantastic; daring escapades, excitement, freedom, people so unlike her community on Outset but just as welcoming.

 

She missed it. 

 

Sailing had been like flying, in a way. Without the scary bird kidnapping you part.

 

But one of them had to be around to look after Grandma, and since Link had disappeared off the face of the planet  _ again,  _ that duty fell to her and she would be the best looker-after ever.

 

That’d show him. Stupid Link, having adventures without her.

 

One of her gulls, Barry, let out a startled caw which sent the entire flock into a tizzy. Aryll ran over to the other end of the lookout and started scanning the far beach for whatever had the birds riled up.

 

They were pretty obvious. A group of adults, all boys, were picking themselves off the sand. How they’d got there she didn’t know, there were no ships in the distance or boats pulled up on the sand.

 

Magic? Must be.

 

They were dressed like idiots for the weather, way too many layers. Some of those guys even had armour on, they’d boil alive in all that! The only one that was dressed even halfway sensibly was…

 

Was…

 

Aryll dropped her telescope. She was diving for the ladder before it even hit the ground.

 

She didn’t bother climbing down, sliding from top to bottom with stinging palms, losing a sandal in the process but not giving a single toss  _ because Link was back _ and it didn’t matter how annoyed she was with him, he was  _ back. _

 

She hit the bottom, spinning on the soft sand, and found her voice as she pounded towards the group.

 

“BIG BROTHER!”

 

—-

 

Oh, Aryll liked these guys.

 

Link had been so, so excited to introduce them to her and her to them, and she could see why. They were pretty cool!

 

They were all called Link, which was weird, but it had made sense after her brother had explained why. She didn’t really get all the details, but it basically came down to screwy magic and the world being in danger again. Or lots of worlds. And lots of worlds meant lots of heroes. They all had nicknames depending on what they were the hero of.

 

The others called her brother ‘Wind’. Made sense.

 

There were many fart jokes in her future.

 

“Don’t even think about it, brat.”

 

“Too late!”

 

“Ugh, great. Why couldn’t I have been the Hero of Waves or something?”

 

“Awww, Link! That wouldn’t have been fun!” Aryll gave her brother a very over-the-top hug, squeezing his arms into his sides. He managed to get free and turned her hug into a headlock and noogie.

 

Stupid big brothers. One day she’d be taller, and then he’d be sorry.

 

Aryll was rescued from the headlock by the Hero of Warriors, who dragged her brother into a bigger, more obnoxious headlock which forced him to let her go. She twisted away, giggling, and cheerfully watched Link attempt to kick his friend in the shins while having his hair ruffled.

 

She’d ended up standing next to the Hero of Time ( _ the actual Hero of Time, that was crazy!) _ who was watching the ensuing battle with a sort of resigned exasperation, like this was normal. It probably was, knowing her brother.

 

“Hey, Mister Time? Aren’t you hot?” Aryll poked the chestplate he was wearing. The metal was getting pretty warm. “It’s summer, you’re going to melt if you wear that!”

 

She’d startled him, even though she hadn’t meant to. He jumped a bit, his only eye widening momentarily before he answered her.

 

Why did he only have one eye? She didn’t remember the Hero of Time being a pirate in the legends…

 

“I hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right.” His hands went to the straps holding the armour together, but then he paused. “In your expert opinion, Miss Aryll, is Outset Island safe?”

 

Oooh, Miss Aryll. Yeah, she definitely liked these guys.

 

“Yep, pretty safe! There’s a few Bokoblins in the Forest of Fairies but nothing too bad. They mostly stay away from people now the Fairy Fountain has been opened up, and they don’t ever cross the bridge anyway. And even if they did - ” She gave him her fiercest grin, the one that Gonzo had taught her, and brandished her dagger with one hand. “ - I’ll protect everyone!”

 

The Hero of Time smiled back at her, nodding in approval. “Then we have nothing to worry about”. He finished undoing the straps and started to pack the plate armour into his bag. Aryll couldn’t help but be a bit jealous. She really wanted a magic bag too.

 

“Oh, and you don’t have to call me Mister. Just Time is fine.”

 

“Okay, but you have to call me Aryll. You’re Link’s friends, so you’re mine too and you don’t have to call me Miss.”

 

Time paused where he was rolling up his sleeves, another smile pulling at his lips.

 

“Aryll it is then.”

 

She beamed at him. 

 

“Can I see your dagger?” Aryll turned to see the Hero of - no, wait - Four looking at her. He was nearly on her eye level actually, which was neat. A lot of Link’s friends were super tall and she was going to get an achy neck from looking up so much.

 

“Sure, if you want.” She handed it over, handle first like she’d been taught, and watched Four inspect it closely. “It’s really pretty.”

 

“It is, and you’ve maintained it well considering all the salt in the air.” He tested the edge with his thumb, frowning a little. “It could do with being sharpened though.”

 

“I’ve got a whetstone but I don’t know what to do with it. I can use a honing steel though, so I do that whenever I’ve used the dagger for something.”

 

“You’ve done well, the edge is very straight. Most people wouldn’t know to hone it after every use.” Four handed the dagger back to her with a smile. “Would you like me to show you how to sharpen it?”

 

“Yes please!”

 

“What - hang on a minute! Aryll, why do you have a dagger?” Link had finally managed to fight his way out of Warrior’s hold and had caught the tail end of the conversation.

 

“Tetra gave it to me.” Aryll could sense an argument brewing here, Link had that look on his face. She tilted her chin up. “She said I should learn how to defend myself, and other people.”

 

“No, not a chance. You shouldn’t have that.”

 

“Hey, that’s not fair! Why not?”

 

“Because you’re  _ nine years old!” _

 

“I’m not a baby, Link!”

 

“You’re a kid, kids shouldn’t have weapons!”

 

“Well Tetra thinks I should, and she showed me how to use it too. And Orca said he’d show me how to use a sword.”

 

“No-one is teaching you how to use a sword!”

 

“You can’t stop me!”

 

“No weapons, Aryll!”

 

“I’ll hit you with my telescope, or does that count as a weapon too?!”

 

A gentle hand pulled her back from where she and Link were in each other’s faces, practically butting heads. Time turned her around, kneeling down to face her, and Aryll directed her glare towards the sand so she didn’t have to see the sympathy on his face. A few paces behind her, Link was having a hissed argument with Warrior.

 

“I’m not a baby.” 

 

“I know.”

 

“I’m responsible.”

 

“You are.”

 

“We have cooking knives bigger than that dagger, and he never said anything about those!”

 

“I’m sure.”

 

“So why is he being an idiot?!” She finally looked up, angry at the injustice of it all. There were tears pricking at the corner of her eyes, but if she pretended they weren’t there maybe everyone else would too.

 

Time didn’t even blink. She was absurdly thankful.

 

“Why do you think?”

 

“...because he’s worried.” Aryll visibly drooped. “But he hasn’t been here, he can’t tell me what to do. I’ve got to look after everyone.”

 

“And from the looks of it, you’re doing a fine job. But he’s your older brother, and he’ll always worry about you. Learning how to use a weapon means you think you’ll need it in the future, and he doesn’t want you in danger.”

 

“I’ve already been in danger, and I couldn’t fight back that time. If I ever get kidnapped or whatever again, I want to know how to save myself.”

 

“And I agree. You should know how to defend yourself.”

 

“Huh?” That was unexpected. Aryll searched his face for any sign of a prank, but Time was deadly serious.

 

“Being able to defend yourself and others is a good skill to have, and danger is sometimes unavoidable. Even on a peaceful island, trouble can still find you. Wind knows that better than anyone.”

 

“Yeah, he does, so  _ why is he being stupid?” _ Angry words, but she couldn’t help it. 

 

“Why don’t you ask him?”

 

“I’m going to!” Aryll stomped over to where Link and Warrior were still arguing. She poked her brother  _ hard _ in the side, and he turned to face her with a grumpy, mulish expression.

 

“Why is this such a big deal?”

 

“You’re just a kid.”

 

“So were you when you came to get me, twelve isn’t that old.”

 

“Yeah, and it was awful! Fighting sucks, and you can get seriously hurt. Monsters don’t hold back just because you’re young. I…” The grumpy expression fell. “...I just want you safe.”

 

She couldn’t help hugging him at that.

 

“Link, I don’t want to fight anything. I’m not going to go out and look for bad guys, but I need to know what to do. Just in case.”

 

She felt him sigh, a long exhale against her hair. His arms came up around her, squeezing her tightly.

 

“We need to talk more about this, with Grandma too. But…okay.  Maybe you do need to know at least a bit.”

 

“For safety.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

She grinned into his neck.

 

“Don’t get big-headed just because I’m agreeing with you.”

 

“I’m not getting big-headed.”

 

“Sure you aren’t.”

 

“I’m not!”

 

There was a pause.

 

“And  _ I’m _ going to teach you how to use a sword, not Orca. I’m way better than he is.”

 

There was a distant shout from where the others had backed off to give the siblings some privacy.

 

_ “Are you two done yet, I want to get off this beach!” _

 

There was a  _ thwap _ as Time smacked Legend upside the head.

 

“Your friends are weird.”

 

“You have no idea.”

 

—-

 

After that rocky start, things were a lot more cheerful. They all relocated to the village proper, and on the way Aryll introduced them all to her gulls. Everyone was suitably impressed. Barry, Ingrid, Hilda and Dave were on their best behaviour for once, but it was Marianne that was the outlier. She wouldn’t leave Legend alone, pulling at his hair and cawing incessantly. Legend didn’t seem to mind in the slightest, being a fan of gulls himself, and as a result spent the majority of the day with a fully-grown seagull riding around on his head. He looked genuinely thrilled. Aryll caught him quietly talking to Marianne several times, and towards the end of the day the seagull flew off only to reappear with a red hibiscus in her beak.

 

Aryll had left them alone at that point, feeling she was interrupting something. 

 

Legend had reappeared after an hour or so, eyes red but dry. He didn’t explain, and no-one asked, but for the rest of their time at Outset he was fairly cheerful yet subdued. Marianne stayed with him, practically attached at the hip. She was miserable for days after the group departed, and Aryll would later find out from her brothers letters that Legend had been in much the same state.

 

Four did indeed show her how to sharpen her dagger, helping her apply light pressure to the blade and keeping it at the best angle for grinding away burrs and polishing the edge. He gave her one of his whetstones, double sided with each side a finer grit than her own one, so that she could keep her blade really sharp. She used it religiously, and the dagger lasted her a lifetime.

 

Aryll spoke to Sky about flying once she found out about his expertise in the matter. While her one flight had been under less than ideal circumstances, there was only so long she could remain scared for and had eventually begun to enjoy herself. The only thing that had come close to the rush of air the sheer speed of it all had been sailing, and it couldn’t match the adrenaline of being so high above the world. Sky, bless him, understood completely and the two of them had a very comprehensive chat about it all. Aryll was now determined to find her way back into the sky, and had a standing offer to go on a Loftwing flight if she ever found herself in Sky’s time. Hey, anything was possible.

 

Time listened to everything she said with the utmost seriousness, and asked thoughtful questions that made her think really hard about the answers. He also knew loads of fun games she hadn’t even heard of before, and he spent an entire afternoon teaching them to her and the other kids on the island. When she asked how he knew them all, he told her he’d grown up with a lot of other children and making up a good game was regarded as one of the best things you could do. Aryll thought that an entire village of just kids sounded amazing. Time had agreed, but he said it in a way that made Aryll wonder if he missed his home village a lot.

 

Warrior helped Link teach her some sword techniques. He had a sword in his bag that was exactly the right size for her, which he said had once belonged to a young friend of his. Time had been startled for the second time that day, and had watched the rest of the training with a very nostalgic air. Warrior had shown her blocks, parries and slashes and she’d taken great delight in testing the moves out against her brother. He’d also shown her how to get the edge on someone taller than her - which, at nine years old, was everyone - and let her practice on him to her heart's content. Before the group left, Warrior taught her the spin attack. Aryll was fairly certain he’d only done that to annoy Link, as she didn’t see when that would be useful in a fight.

 

Hyrule was like a walking encyclopaedia, and wanted to know everything about Outset Island. Aryll happily told him about the various plants and what they could be used for, and about the native animals to the island. In return, he told her about magic, which was amazing. He’d travelled all over his own world and learned lots of spells, and every time the group had warped to a different era he’d managed to pick up more. Hyrule even agreed to teach her some, after finding that she was magically capable like her brother was, and by the time the group left she’d learnt a healing spell, a jumping spell and a shield spell. Well, as far as her brother knew anyway. Hyrule had very quietly taught her a thunder spell as well, only to be used in a worst case scenario. He hoped she never had to use it, but the more skills she had under her belt the better.

 

She got a letter from Link a few months later when Hyrule accidentally let the secret slip, letting her know in no uncertain terms that it was for emergencies only. Honestly, she wasn’t stupid. She was curious, sure, but not enough to risk damage to the whole village.

 

Twilight gave her piggy-back rides. Being tall was the best. He also managed to talk Time into a game of Chicken Fight (which was a weird name, people on Outset called it Shoulder Wars) in the shallow waters close to the beach, and she happily attempted to wrestle her brother off of Time’s shoulders and push them both into the water. She was fairly certain Link and Time let her win, but it was worth it to see both of them soaked to the skin while she and Twilight did a victory lap at the edge of the waves. The sight of Link’s crazy salt-filled hair was so funny Aryll laughed till her stomach hurt.

 

The only one that was a bit off was Wild. He was a little scary, really, with all those scars. She hadn’t seen anything like it, even with the pirate crew. He was shy and hung back from everyone else, especially her. She caught him looking at her a few times like he was shaken, like her being there was freaking him out. She almost went and asked him about it but he’d been very quiet and closed off when they’d been introduced, like he was scared of her. She hadn’t liked that much. People weren’t generally scared of a nine year old in pigtails. So she left him alone.

 

She probably would have done that for the entire time Link’s friends were with them if two things hadn’t tipped the balance early on. One was how everyone else kept trying to bring him in to conversations and games, even if he didn’t often take them up on it. Sometimes when Wild got distracted he acted pretty normally, joking and teasing with the others  and messing around with her brother, even ruffling his hair and letting Link hug him. He’d go all quiet and tense again when something surprised him, like when one of Aryll’s seagulls flew too close, so it was probably that he wasn’t really weird, just...jumpy maybe?

 

The other thing came on the afternoon of the second day. Everyone was heading down to the beach again, including Aryll, but Wild had decided to stay behind with her Grandma and discuss recipes. That had been one of the first times Aryll saw him relax a bit, helping her Grandma cook dinner the night before and getting into a very in-depth conversation about spices. He was a really good cook, as it turned out. She’d made a joke about how he must be the reason her brother hadn’t got scurvy, and he’d even smiled at her a bit before he got all shy again.

 

When they’d all headed out, Aryll had managed to forget her telescope in her bedroom. She didn’t realise until they’d reached the beach, and with a dramatic groan she stomped back up the beach to get it to the general amusement of everyone else.

 

She managed to walk back into the house halfway through a conversation.

 

“...he didn’t say anything!”

 

Curious, Aryll slowed her pace and peeked quietly around the doorway. Wild was sitting at the kitchen table with Grandma, holding a cup of tea. 

 

“He wouldn’t, dear. He tries so hard not to mention things like that when he’s on an adventure.” Grandma took a sip of her own tea, a gentle smile on her lips. “Knowing my boy, he doesn’t think it matters compared to a villain on the loose.”

 

“It’s his birthday, of course it matters!”

 

“He’s a stubborn one! If the world didn’t need saving he probably would have said something, but wild horses wouldn’t have dragged it out of him otherwise.”

 

“He has mentioned before that he was nearly fourteen, but I still can’t believe it was last week and he didn’t tell us...” Wild looked a little upset by this, staring at the table and twisting the cup in his hands. He suddenly stopped, and looked over at Grandma.

 

“Ma’am, can I borrow your kitchen?”

 

“You certainly can, dear, but whatever for?”

 

“It was his birthday, right? Birthdays mean cake, and since he didn’t tell us on the day he’s just going to have to have a belated one.”

 

“Wow, really?”

 

Oops, she’d made him jump. She’d made Grandma jump too, if the gently-raised eyebrow of judgement was anything to go by. Oh well, nothing she could do about it now. She stepped fully into the room, resisting the urge to bounce around.

 

“You’re really going to make Link a cake? That’s awesome! He hasn’t a birthday cake for two whole years!”

 

Wild looked horrified.

 

“Two years?! Why not?”

 

“Well, on his twelfth birthday I got kidnapped by The Helmaroc King because of Ganondorf, so he had to come rescue me right away, and I’m pretty certain when he turned thirteen he was in the middle of saving Tetra from the ghost ship.”

 

“...I’m going to make him the best cake ever.” Wild finished his tea with a bit more force than necessary and stood from the table, rolling up his sleeves. He fully turned to face her, seemingly forgetting his usual shyness. “Miss Aryll, can you keep this a secret and your brother distracted until dinner? I want to surprise him.”

 

Aryll grinned up at him, saluting. “You can count on me!”

 

Wild smiled at her, returning the gesture. His salute was really neat, like a soldiers.

 

“Then I’d better get to work.”

 

Aryll raced up the stairs, finding the telescope under her bed, and dashed back out of the door. As she left, Wild was starting to weigh out ingredients (where he’d got those, Aryll didn’t know) under the approving eye of Grandma. She had to fight down a wriggly feeling of guilt for thinking anything bad about him. With streaks of flour on his arms and a mixing bowl in hand, he didn’t look weird or scary at all.

 

“You took ages, did your telescope run away?” Was how her darling brother greeted her when she made it back to the beach. Twilight was swimming a little way out, Warrior and Legend were having a very energetic splash fight in the shallows, Hyrule had made his way over to a nearby boulder with a sketchbook in hand, having to sweep curls of wood off his page every so often from Sky’s carving where they sat together. Four and Time were quietly chatting under the shade of a tree, relaxed and sleepy. 

 

It was very satisfying knowing something they didn’t know. 

 

“It fell under my bed.”

 

“That’s what you think. I bet it rolled under their on purpose because you smell and it doesn’t want you to use it.”

 

“You smell! You’re the smelliest.”

 

“You’re the smelliest to infinity.”

 

“You’re the smelliest to infinity plus one!”

 

“You can’t have infinity plus one- Hey, no splashing!”

 

“You can’t stop me, pppppft- no, wait, wait, I wasn’t ready!” Aryll raced away from her brother, shrieking as he splashed the back of her dress. Her brother might be nearly a grownup, but he was still a big baby when he wanted to be.

 

She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face later.

 

—-

 

Dinner was a fairly noisy affair, which was a fantastic change from when it was just Grandma and her. They’d all moved out to the deck, the house not big enough for all of them, and had all managed to cram around the relocated dining table with mismatched chairs borrowed from around the village. Link had been a bit weird about it at first, shooting looks at her and Grandma and glancing over to a nearby tree every so often, but he relaxed after a bit and joined in with the chatter. It was mad, crowded and cheerful. Aryll loved every minute.

 

Wild had rushed back into the house the minute everyone was finished with his seafood risotto, giving her a wink on the way. She promptly jumped to her feet and ran to smack her hands over Link’s eyes.

 

“Ow, Aryll! What’s going on?”

 

“Shush, shush! It’s a surprise!”

 

Link crossed his arms, managing to give the impression that he was glaring at her even though she was behind him. She stuck her tongue out at the back of his head, and twisted around to see Wild carrying something colourful towards the table.

 

“The last time you said ‘it’s a surprise’, there were sea snails in my bed, I think I have the right to be a bit suspicio- oh sweet fuck.”

 

Time, Twilight and Grandma automatically responded with “Language!” but honestly Aryll thought it was well worth the naughty word. The cake was  _ amazing. _

 

It was a sponge cake covered in pale, fluffy whipped cream, with extra fancy dollops of cream around the top and the middle piled high with shiny, sticky fruits. She didn’t even know what some of those fruits were! There were red, shiny berries, some round purple berries that were staining the cream underneath them, chunks of deep pink fruit speckled with little black seeds, small green fruits and segments of oranges, all glazed with honey and topped with what looked like mint leaves. It was the coolest cake she’d ever seen.

 

Link was gobsmacked. Aryll had moved over to give Wild room to set the cake down and could see his mouth hanging open from where she stood.

 

“So,  _ someone _ failed to mention it was his birthday last week-” There was a general mumble of outrage at this, lots of “Why didn’t you say?” and “So, you’re fourteen now?”. Wild picked up the sentence again after a few seconds “-so this is a late birthday cake. For you.”

 

Link didn’t say anything, he just stared. Wild started to get a bit fidgety, tugging at the hem of his shirt. Aryll nearly thumped her brother, he was making Wild nervous.

 

“So...is it okay? I’ve not made many cakes, but it’s got Wildberries in the middle and you like those…”

 

He cut himself off with an ‘oof’ as Link flung himself out of his chair and hugged Wild hard around the middle. Well, hug was a strong word. More of a very happy tackle. 

 

It took a second for Wild to hug him back, wrapping Link up in his arms with a small smile to a steady stream of ‘thank you’ and ‘it’s so cool’ and ‘I can’t believe you made me a  _ cake’. _ Grandma pulled a packet of birthday candles and some matches out of her pocket. They finished off the meal by singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and devouring the cake, which was big enough for everyone to have a huge slice.

 

It tasted as good as it looked.

 

\---

 

After about a week, Aryll woke up and the boys were gone.

 

With the weather so good they’d been camping out on the deck to save being squashed up in the house, Aryll joining them in a makeshift sleeping bag. It had been like a really big sleepover every night, snacks and scary stories and jokes. They must have kept half the island up with all the noise but nobody seemed to mind. Aryll had slept better than she had in a while, sprawled out on the floor with her legs kicked over her brothers middle and dozing off to the mingled sound of snoring and seagulls. So when she woke up alone in a tangle of sheets, she was understandably disappointed. They’d completely vanished, bags and all, with no trace of their existence except some repairs to the house which several of the boys had insisted on doing and a few little trinkets Link had picked up on his journey for her and Grandma.

 

She was as mopey as Marianne for days until Grandma suggested writing a letter. It seemed crazy, surely there was no way to send a letter to her brother when she didn’t even know where he was, or if he was even in this world, but the postal service had never failed her before. Magic was good like that. So she wrote the letter.

 

It was only a page or two, nothing interesting had happened between the boys departure and now that was worth writing about, but she thanked them all for spending so much time with her and helping Grandma so much, and telling them all how much she missed them already. She practically demanded they come back soon, even though she knew they didn’t have any choice in the matter. And padding the envelope out when she finally sealed it up were a bundle of pictures, one for each of them. Flowers and swords, shells and birds, cake and magic.

 

Even if they didn’t come back for ages, they’d know that she was thinking of them.


	2. Uli, Ordon Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whoever had broken into her son's house was going to get, at best, an earful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Right! Aryll's chapter in Kith and Kin was fun to write, but now it's time to get Chapter Six done!
> 
> Brain:...nah. Write some fluff instead.
> 
> And two weeks later, the fluff has been written. I've had to do a lot of research on the Twilight Princess storyline as I haven't actually played it, so I hope everyone comes across in character. I'm fairly certain Uli was supposed to be more demure and quiet in the game but gosh dangit I'm a sucker for sass. Besides, anyone who raised Twilight must have a bit of a spark in them.
> 
> Please enjoy!

Uli was shaken awake by her son in the earliest hours of the morning.

 

She wasn’t amused.

 

Rusl was out in the deepest parts of the forest with some of the other villagers making charcoal, a task which required three whole days of constant tending and therefore required quite a few people sleeping in shifts in order to keep an eye on the charcoal oven. Uli had been looking forward to at least one more full night of being able to spread over the entire mattress if she so chose and sleeping without his thunderous snoring echoing in her ears.

 

She loved her husband, truly she did. But if there were awards for snoring, he’d have won them all.

 

According to Rusl, she was quite the snorer herself. Filthy lies, obviously.

 

In any case, any snoring she may or may not have been doing was rudely interrupted by her sweet, precious child. 

 

Her sweet, precious child who had better have a good reason for waking her at stupid o’clock in the morning.

 

“Mum, Mum! Come on, wake up, it’s an emergency!” Colin seemed completely unfazed by her drowsy glaring, continuing to shake her until she sat up.

 

She struggled upright, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and regarding him with a critical gaze. He wasn’t bleeding, vomiting or visibly unwell. He was, in fact, fully dressed for the day with mud already crusted around his boots and flaking off onto her floor rug.

 

He noticed the direction of her gaze and winced.

 

“Sorry Mum, I’ll clean it up later, but you have to come now. Right now!”

 

The urgency in his voice started to filter through her foggy brain and she swung her legs out of bed.

 

“What’s happened?”

 

_ “Someone’s in Link’s house.” _

 

She paused, and threw herself into dressing with much greater speed.

 

Colin had a tendency to visit Link’s treehouse when he was missing him badly. Link hadn’t been home for a while, off on another quest which had kept him away for nearly two months now. Not the longest he’d been gone, but more than long enough for them all to miss him. Link was a brother to Colin and definitely a son to her and Rusl. Ordon was a close-knit village as it was, and his absence was glaring.

 

So Colin had taken it upon himself to look after Link’s house. He went up fairly often, dusting and sweeping up errant leaves (Link’s own fault for living in a tree, she supposed) and keeping the place in order for when he came home. Colin would take a book or a craft project up there to do as well and keep himself occupied for hours in the quiet sanctuary of the treehouse. He had been known to go up early if he couldn’t sleep, which Uli presumed is what had happened this morning.

 

“How do you know someone is up there?” Uli pulled on her shoes, threw a dress hastily over her nightclothes and pushed her hair off her face as she hurried down the stairs. Colin followed, nearly treading on her heels.

 

“There’s a big pile of boots outside the door, and I didn’t go up but there was snoring as well, and a light shining inside.”

 

“Right, I’ll go see what’s going on. Stay here.”

 

“But Mum-”

 

“Someone has to keep an eye on Maidie.”

 

“She’s asleep, it’s not like she’s going anywhere.”

 

“Ah yes, because she’s never managed to escape her cot and go on a toddler sized rampage in the early hours of the morning.”

 

Hmmm, that clearly struck a chord. Maidie had gotten hold of several of Colin’s books the last time she had gotten up early, pulling them off the bookshelf in their shared bedroom, and it had been difficult to save the ripped pages. Babies were utter terrors.

 

Uli belted a large knife around her waist and turned to catch her son’s eye as she headed out of the door. He was hovering in the middle of the room, shifting from foot to foot.

 

“I’m just going to look, Colin, to see what we’re dealing with. I’ll be right back. Keep your boots on, I may need you to go get your dad.”

 

She lingered in the doorway long enough to see her son’s determined nod, and then headed out into the village. 

 

The early morning air still held a chill, even though they were nearly into summertime. Uli quickly regretted not pulling on some trousers as she scuffed through the grass to the Ordon Village outskirts. Why on earth Link wanted to live so far out was a mystery, but the lad always had liked his space. 

 

He’d been a forest foundling, maybe all of three years old and wandering alone near the village. There weren’t any Hylian settlements nearby. He’d been scared and shy, dirty and hungry, and had no idea what had happened to him. Rusl had scooped him up and run home with him in his arms. They’d only just been married, the two of them, so when Rusl burst through the door with a toddler clinging to him in a daze Uli had been more than shocked.

 

They’d got some food in him and cleaned him up, and he’d fallen asleep in the warm bath water, utterly exhausted. Uli had stayed with him while Rusl had rushed back out into the forest, searching frantically for any sign of the boy’s family. He went out every day for a week, treading paths made by humans and animals both, searching every nook and cranny from dawn till dusk.

 

He’d found nothing.

 

Their little Link was a mystery, that was for certain. There had been no question at all about fostering him. The spare room became Link’s room, and they had a tiny shadow.

 

It had taken a while for the little boy to come out of his shell. Uli didn’t hear him speak for years, mostly communicating through body language and sign, but his personality blossomed far faster than his words did. By four he was trailing along after her and Rusl, cheerfully signing away and desperate to help with chores. By six he was in love with goats, and spent more and more time helping out on the ranch. By eight he was a permanent fixture there and had every single animal eating out of his palm, even the most ornery old beasts that Fado had long since resigned himself to never forming a connection with.

 

By ten he had moved out. With Colin starting to walk and cause havoc and the house more chaotic, Link had decided he wanted his own space. The treehouse had been sitting empty since the previous occupant had moved away to another village to be with his wife, and Link, as he did, just shifted his things over one day and that was that. He was more than capable of looking after himself, having learnt all the necessary household chores from his foster parents, but Uli made it very clear to him that he was always welcome back home for any reason at all. He came over for dinner at least twice a week, and had them all over for dinner just as often. He adored Colin and always had, teasing and joking and playing with him, and Maidie held no less of a place in his esteem. Some of Maidie’s earliest outings in the village had been in Link’s arms, and more recently on his shoulders as she had grown bigger and sturdier.

 

Adoption wasn’t really a  _ thing _ in Ordon, children ended up raised by the entire community as it was, but Link was her boy. She may not have grown him as she had Colin and Maidie, but he was her son nonetheless. She knew Rusl felt the same.

 

So whoever had broken into her son’s house was going to get, at best, an earful.

 

Uli finally reached the house and hovered at the bottom of the ladder. She saw exactly what Colin had meant. A collection of boots were pushed just to the side of the landing out of the way of the door. The windows were latched open, letting in the night air, and from inside a glimmer of light could be seen. Faint snoring echoed from inside. Multiple snores actually.

 

Uli gritted her teeth and started to climb.

 

The ladder had a creaky bit about halfway up, which required careful navigation and the placing of one’s foot on the far side of the rung, but Uli did make it up without any incriminating noises. Making her way over to the window, she carefully poked her head around the frame to see why was going on.

 

Oh…

 

There were nine people spread out on the floor in bedrolls, lit by the dying fire. One or two were fully grown, but the majority were teenagers or possibly even younger, the limited light disguising their age. They were all deeply asleep and comfortable, sprawled in each other’s space with limbs thrown haphazardly over neighbouring companions. Every face (strangers to her but oddly familiar…) was peaceful and serene. 

 

And in the middle of this tangle of bodies was Link.

 

He was flopped over on his side and sharing a blanket with a teenager with long blonde hair, who was sprawled out on his belly. One of his arms was tucked into his chest, wrapped in bandages, and the other was stretched out across the floor towards a man asleep close by. His fingers were tangled in the man’s sleeve.

 

Link was smiling, gently, in his sleep.

 

Uli wouldn't have disturbed him for all the gold in Hyrule Castle.

 

She crept back to the ladder and slid down it, making her way back home.

 

(As she left, several pairs of eyes snapped open. After a minute or so, they slid shut again, trusting in Twilight’s assurance that the village and this house were safe. Twilight himself slept on.)

 

Uli swung her front door open and nearly smacked Colin in the face with it. 

 

“Mum! What’s going on, how many, I’ll go get Dad-”

 

“Easy, sweetheart. Everything’s fine.” She grinned at Colin’s suspicious face. “Link’s come home.”

 

Colin’s expression changed from wariness to excitement so quickly Uli was surprised he didn’t get whiplash.

 

“Link’s here?!”

 

“Mhmm, and he’s brought some friends back for a visit.”

 

“Oh my gosh, I’ve got to go see him-“

 

“Ah, no you won’t young man.” Uli managed to snag her son’s collar as he went to race out of the door. “He’s sleeping, and he looks like he needs it. His friends too.”

 

“Aww, Mum…”

 

“What you can do is help me make breakfast. Who knows how long it’s been since those boys have had a home cooked meal.”

 

—-

 

Twilight woke up to the sound of quiet murmuring and birdsong, in the familiar surroundings of home. It was the most relaxed he’d been in weeks, and he enjoyed the drowsy slide into consciousness that waking up slowly gave him. At his back, Wild was sat up but slumped over and yawning into his palms. Directly across from him, Time had grumpily buried his face into his pillow and was attempting to go back to sleep despite the incredibly loud goldfinch sat on the window ledge which was cheerfully screaming into the void.

 

Hyrule and Legend were still out of it, and had somehow managed to worm their way into each other’s spaces over the course of the night. Legend was snoring directly into Hyrule’s hair, while Hyrule had thrown himself halfway across Legend’s chest and was hugging him in his sleep.

 

Warrior and Wind were awake and quietly pottering around the house, casually snooping into Twilight’s things. Four was poking at the fire, stirring it up from the embers it had burnt down to overnight, and Sky was halfheartedly struggling out of his blankets with the air of someone who really didn’t want to be up yet. 

 

After the chaos of recent days, it was a beautifully tranquil morning.

 

Even when Time lost his temper and hurled his pillow at the goldfinch, sending it flying off with an offended screech.

 

The resulting laughter from everyone else woke Hyrule and Legend, and apparently alerted someone outside.

 

_ “Morning, boys! Are you up?” _

 

Twilight sat bolt upright, throwing Wild slightly off balance. He’d spent years waking up to that voice.

 

From outside, all Uli heard was a few startled yelps and pounding footsteps, and then the door was flung open and Link was nearly tumbling off of the landing. She really needed to talk him into installing some railings.

 

“Uli!” Link was wide-eyed, staring at her in delighted disbelief, a massive smile forming on his lips. She matched it with one of her own and held out her arms.

 

He didn’t bother with the ladder, jumping off the platform as his friends piled out of the house behind him, and landing in a crouch only to throw himself at her, laughing. She rocked back and forth on her heels as she held him tightly, her eldest boy back where he belonged.

 

“Hey there, sweetheart. Welcome home.” She pulled back a little, raising her hands to cradle his beaming face, and pulled him down to touch her forehead to his. Silly ridiculously tall boy of hers. From above there was a quiet chorus of ‘awww’s and one ‘so that’s where that came from’, possibly from the long-haired teenager.

 

She let Link go and faced his friends, all hovering slightly awkwardly by the open door and still in their nightclothes.

 

“And welcome to you all as well. I hope you’re hungry, I’ve made a big breakfast. Do you all like pancakes?”

 

Laughter, agreement and thanks greeted her, along with someone commenting how ‘Wild’ was getting a break for once. Link was shouting good-naturedly at them to hurry up, Uli’s pancakes weren’t to be missed.

 

She looked at her boy, standing barefoot In the damp grass and happier than she’d seen him in quite some time, and knew she had made the right decision to invite everyone to her home.

 

—-

 

Colin and Maidie met them just outside the house, and wasted no time in greeting their brother. Colin threw himself forward as soon as Link came into view, and cannoned into him with enough force to fell a tree. Link, in true herder fashion, simply turned it into a swing and spun Colin off his feet and into a hug. Maidie came toddling across the path behind him, still a victim of the unfortunate waddle that all new walkers had for a good few months after finding their feet. She was shrieking at the top of her lungs in excitement, a chorus of “-ink! -ink!” scattered throughout general baby gibberish, and was sent into peals of laughter as Link swept her up to sit her on his hip and blow raspberries on her cheek. With both younger children in tow, Link and Uli led the pack of boys into the house. Breakfast related carnage ensued, Uli’s excellent pancakes quickly disappearing along with quite a lot of coffee and milk, and finished with nine lads offering to help with the washing up. 

 

That was how Uli was finally introduced to Link’s friends, elbow deep in soapy water with Time while Sky and Hyrule dried, Warrior swept the floor, Wild packed condiments and ingredients back into the pantry, Legend washed the table down and Four helped Wind move the furniture back into place from where they’d moved it to fit everyone around the table. Link was keeping Maidie distracted so that she didn’t try and ‘help’ while Colin completely ignored the spirit of good hosting and constantly battered him with questions about his travels.

 

In fairness, Link didn’t seem to mind.

 

His friends were an odd group. All Hylian, possibly the most that had ever been in Ordon Village in one go before. Soldiers, sailors (there had been sniggers when Wind introduced himself as that, but no one would tell her why), smiths, ranchers and adventurers. Many of them had awful scars, to say nothing of Time’s eye and Wild’s...well, everything, poor lad. They’d all come together to stop a common foe, and were being pulled all over Hyrule by magic, popping in and out of different locations and fighting overpowered enemies.

 

(She’d find out the full story later from Link, once Colin was in bed, that all of his friends were courage incarnate just as he was. That many of them were the same heroes from the old legends. They weren’t just being pulled all over Hyrule, they were being pulled all over many different versions of Hyrule, and they had absolutely no idea the true reason for their meeting.)

 

Regardless of who they were, they’d clearly done Link a world of good. He’d been...quiet, once he’d returned home with the kidnapped children. He’d ridden off several times since then, sometimes to meet with the newly-crowned Queen Zelda, sometimes for unknown reasons. There had been times he’d disappear from the village without a trace, only to wander back days later, completely unharmed but with a slightly lost look on his face and a few strange, animal like behaviours which would lessen over the course of an afternoon. Uli had worried, but Link had always waved it off and said he’d picked up some odd habits on his travels.

 

The Link that had come home this time was a world away from the subdued, wary young man who had brought the lost children home. He was far more settled, more sure of himself. He was more open, emotionally, nowhere near as hard to read as he had been before he’d left and more free with affection. The massive hug he’d given her was evidence enough of that, and the casual way he nudged and poked at his friends and they to him was a revelation. She watched, that fretful motherly knot in her chest loosening with every hair-ruffle and side hug, every cheerful taunt and in-joke. She hadn’t truly realised the depth of difference in the Link that had left to find the other children and the one that had come back. Not just in skill, but in demeanour. 

 

Yes...good for him indeed.

 

She found herself standing with Time, the eldest in the group and, from what she had seen, acting as a father/elder brother figure to the others. There was a certain amount of feigned reluctance there but it was clear how much he cared for all of them, and together they kept an eye on the others as Link introduced them to the rest of the village. Legend and Four were at the goat pen, attempting to coax the animals near enough to pet. Beth had managed to work her way onto Warrior’s shoulders but was nearly falling off in her eagerness to lean over and poke at Sky’s sailcloth, Talo and Malo were damn near shouting over each other to ask questions of Wind and Ilia was quietly chatting with Hyrule, her gaze often flickering to Link who was bouncing Maidie in his arms as he talked to Fado. While he was distracted, Uli took the opportunity to ask after something that had been bugging her.

 

“May I ask a slightly odd question?”

 

“Of course. You may get a slightly odd answer, however.” 

 

Uli turned to face him, taking in the relaxed pose and the slight smile on his lips. She raised an eyebrow at him, chuckling internally at the more curious expression that passed over his face.

 

“Pup?”

 

Oh, that had caught him off guard. She’d heard it pass from Time to Link several times over the morning, sometimes calm, sometimes exasperated but always spoken with affection. It was only ever him that used it too, but it was said so casually that it must be an old, familiar nickname. She certainly had never met Time before, and Link hadn’t spoken of him. Her curiosity had been well and truly piqued.

 

“That’s...rather a long story. And not all of it is mine to tell.”

 

“You don’t have to, I’m just being nosy. Honestly, I’d just as soon ask the meaning behind ‘Twilight’.”

 

“That’s also not my story to tell, in any shape or form. Pup, however…” Time was scratching at the back of his neck, endearingly awkward considering how stoic he could be. “I trained him in swordcraft, at least in part. I’ve picked up a lot of skills during my own travels, and your Link is a quick study.” He chuckled, bowing his head a little. “I’m not getting any younger. It meant a lot to me to be able to pass the knowledge on. One of the things I taught him even helped end the battle with Ganondorf, but that’s more a testament to his skill than mine. The nickname just...happened, without me even realising. The fonder I became of him, the more it slipped out. And he didn’t have any objections, so it stayed.”

 

“The way he is with you, I’d definitely say he doesn’t have any objections.” Uli looked back over to her lad. Link was trying to convince Wild to take Maidie, who was doing her best to fling herself out of his arms at the younger man. Little hands grabbed at the air between them, accompanying determined babbling. For whatever reason, Wild looked wide-eyed and hesitant. She wondered if he had much experience with babies. “In that case, I owe you my thanks for helping bring him back to me.” She waved away his objections. “I owe you an apology also.”

 

“What for?”

 

“For my suspicions about you.” She turned to face Time again, taking in his confused expression. “I had thought, given your manner with him and a similarity in the face...that you might be his father. And I was more than prepared to rake you over the coals for leaving him behind.”

 

“He has a father, and a good one, if what Twilight has told me about Rusl is even half true.”

 

“He'll be back later today and you can judge for yourself. But we’ve always tried to do our best for him.”

 

“He wouldn’t be half the man he is today without the upbringing he’s had from the both of you. He’s said as much himself. You are fine parents.” Time let that hang in the air for a minute, kindly ignoring her red cheeks and slightly wobbly expression, before sighing. “But there is a little truth in your suspicions - I’m not his father, though any man would be proud to have him as a son. But we have determined, through what little we both know of our respective lineages and a good deal of magic, that we are related by blood.”

 

(Later that night, on the sofa with Link and Rusl beside her, she’d remember these words and remember what Link had told her about the Hero of Time, lost to obscurity and little remembered despite his great deeds. She’d wonder just how far the family tree had branched to bring her boy to her. She’d thank whatever goddess whim had allowed Link and Time to meet and learn from each other.)

 

A sudden yelp split the air ahead of them. Link thrust Maidie into a startled Wild’s arms and jumped the fence to the goat pen, racing full pelt towards one spectacularly grumpy billy goat that was chasing Legend around the interior. That one had always been a bit territorial, even more so now it was getting close to kid season, so Legend deciding to go in for a closer look had not been the best idea. They made quite the sight, boy chasing goat chasing boy, with a series of blistering swear words and manly screams echoing off the trees. The other lads and the children were bent over double from laughter.

 

Uli looked back just in time to catch Maidie raise a palm to Wild’s scars. Wild had automatically sat her on his hip, one arm securely around her back with his hand tucked loosely under one chubby thigh. It was a very natural position, as if he had experience carrying a small child around, and she wondered why he had been so hesitant earlier. Maidie was uncharacteristically gentle, running tiny fingers over the red, raised tissue on Wild’s face and neck with utmost carefulness while he stared at her in confusion. She traced quite a few of the bigger lines, little face set and serious, before leaning forward and pressing a sloppy kiss to the thick knot of scar tissue just under his ear. She sat back, satisfied, proclaimed “Kissit bedda!” and settled comfortably into Wild’s side to watch Link tackle the goat to the floor and allow Legend the chance to get out of the pen.

 

“...thanks, Maidie.” Wild hitched her a little higher on his hip, blinking away the dampness in his eyes and pressing his cheek to her fluffy, flyaway blonde hair.

 

“Oh, Cub…” Time murmured from where he still stood next to Uli. She’d have to ask about that nickname as well. Later.

 

At the gates, she could see the charcoal making party winding their way back into the village, Rusl in front. Link had spotted him and was frantically waving from his position climbing back over the fence. Rusl broke into a run, shouting something that they were too far away to hear.

 

It was going to be a joyful reunion.

 

—-

 

With her dad back and a whole slew of new people to play with, Maidie had been on cloud nine all day. She’d barely had a nap, only going down for ten minutes when everyone went back to the house for lunch, after which she’d unlatched the side of the cot, pushed it down, climbed out and yelled incoherently at the top of the stairs until someone came and got her. She flat out refused to go to bed that evening, eventually passing out on Sky a good few hours after she’d normally fall asleep. Sky managed to get her into bed without waking her and left her tiny form draped in his sailcloth against the night chill. He hadn’t had the heart to take it off her after she’d fallen asleep with both hands tangled in the fabric.

 

After dinner, which Wild insisted on making to give Uli a break from cooking for so many guests, a yawning Colin was hustled up the stairs to bed and the majority of the group took themselves back to Link’s treehouse. Link stayed behind to catch up with his foster parents, which allowed Uli the opportunity to take a look at his wounded arm. She’d noticed how he’d favoured his other arm all day, avoiding contact on that side where possible. She’d also seen the tenseness in his jaw when the children had tackled him with hugs and wondered if he wasn’t hiding more injuries from them.

 

As it turned out, it was both the arm and a deep hole in his belly, both of which were rapidly healing. The faint, near invisible lines over his skin showed her exactly how he’d been hurt.

 

“You got hit by lightning?!”

 

“I’m sorry, he got hit by what?” Rusl was with them, carefully checking over the stomach wound to make sure it was healing correctly, and he had paused while wrapping it back up. “I can’t have heard that properly, love.”

 

“Lightning. Those are lightning wounds, how…you should be dead.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the lines, lightning ferns they were called, she’d seen them scorched into the skin of people who’d been caught outside in a storm. If the electricity didn’t straight up kill you, you’d be left with vicious pain and usually some level of mental affliction. Link seemed fine, but that didn’t stop her from clasping his cheeks and turning him this way and that to check his reactions.

 

“Uli - Uli, I’m oka-ah!” She tilted his head so she could press two fingers to his neck, checking his pulse. “Honestly I’m fine, you don’t need to -ow!” Hmm, the pinch test showed that his blood flow was fine, he was clearly reacting to stimulus properly, pulse was normal, eyes were normal.

 

She lent back, giving him more space. “When’s your birthday?”

 

That was far too much sass for one look. “No idea, but we celebrate it on the day Rusl found me.”

 

“What’s your horse’s name?”

 

“Epona, and she’s likely pretty annoyed with me for not taking her on this journey.”

 

“Why didn’t you take her?” That was Rusl interrupting, but it was a valid question.

 

“I don’t know if I can, to be honest. It’s only ever the nine of us and our belongings that shift between worlds, and she’s hardly anyone’s  _ thing. _ If we disappeared and she was left alone in the middle of nowhere I’d never forgive myself.”

 

“Well,” Uli brought the conversation back around, “You seem fine. I’m not sure how, but you haven’t got any of the usual side effects of a lightning strike apart from the wounds and the lightning ferns.”

 

“I’m lucky, I wasn’t too far from the others and they started treating me pretty much straight away. Lots of potions, shock prevention...I had a concussion as well, so they kept me up and talking for a bit. But it was fine, the cub knows what to do for lightning. Turns out these marks are called lightning feathers where he’s from, that threw me off a bit.”

 

“If you say you’re alright then I believe you. You certainly seem to be healing well.”

 

“I’ve meant to ask about that actually,” Uli cut in, satisfied her son wasn’t going to keel over and die anytime soon. “Cub, that’s your nickname for Wild isn’t it?”

 

It seemed the caught-off-guard expression was a genetic thing, because damn if Link didn’t look like Time at that moment.

 

“Err...yes?” A shame he hadn't inherited the eloquence though.

 

“It’s sweet, that’s all. You seem to care a lot for him.” She grabbed her cup of tea from the side table, passing Link his as well. “Not that you don’t for the others of course, but there’s a difference with him.”

 

“I didn’t realise it was that obvious.” Link took a long sip of his tea, thinking. “With Wild...this isn’t the first time I’ve been pulled between worlds. Those times I disappeared without any of my equipment? I got taken to Wild’s time. No warning, I just woke up and was there.”

 

“So you’ve known him longer than the others have, I’m guessing.” Rusl had sat back with his own drink after packing the medical supplies away. There was charcoal dust ground into every fold and crease on his hands, and a little smudge right by his ear that Uli was absolutely not going to tell him about.

 

“Yeah. I spent ages with him, maybe three or four months altogether, on and off. The group as a whole has only being travelling…two months, nearly?”

 

“Wait, three or four months? You’ve only ever been gone a few days!”

 

“I suppose that’s one of the side effects of being transported somewhere by the goddesses, the usual time to travel back doesn’t apply. I don’t know how you boys put up with all this magic, that sort of thing is beyond me.” 

 

“It gets confusing, that’s for certain.” Link acknowledged Rusl’s comment with a wry look, taking another sip of his drink. “But that’s how it is, I guess. Wild was alone, without his memories and having to fight to regain every bit of strength and skill he’d had before. He absolutely would have been fine without me, I’m sure of it but… having someone else there who’d been through the same kind of saving-the-world nonsense...it helped, I think. He’s a good kid, and he’d been through so much. I got attached to him, and the nickname just...happened, without me even realising.”

 

That sounded familiar. 

 

She finished her tea, and set her cup aside. “Then I’m very glad you were there for him.”

 

Link’s smile was soft and grateful in the candlelight, catching her eye just over the rim of his cup.

 

Good for her boy indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two fun facts for you!
> 
> Maidie is a Scottish name meaning 'Maiden' or 'Young Woman', and I picked it as it sounded nice with Colin (also a Scottish name). We don't actually find out the name of Rusl and Uli's daughter in the game, as she's only seen in the end cutscene, so I took liberties with her.
> 
> I've based Maidie's character off my little goddaughter Amelia, who's two and a half and has been an utter terror for every single day of her life. The scene with Wild's scars is nearly identical to something she once did to her mum's birthmark at the age of 18 months, and honestly it was so sweet we both cried. I couldn't not include it somewhere.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed this!


	3. Smith and Dot, South Hyrule Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The smell of molten steel and fired charcoal permeated the entire workshop.
> 
> This was impressive, considering Smith had only just come downstairs and he hadn’t got the forge lit yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still the first here, just about, so Happy New Year (and Happy New Decade) to you all!
> 
> Please enjoy this unadulterated fluff.

The smell of molten steel and fired charcoal permeated the entire workshop.

 

This was impressive, considering Smith had only just come downstairs and he hadn’t got the forge lit yet.

 

He had struggled into wakefulness at some point in the dead of night, convinced that he’d heard the clanging of hammers and the hiss of quenched metal. With the assumption that it was only a lingering dream he had fallen back asleep, vaguely amused that he was now the sort of dull and boring old fart who never stopped thinking about work, but it seemed there had been truth to what he’d heard.

 

The quenching oil was still hot, as was the forge.

 

An odd sort of intruder, to utilise his equipment while he slept but leave everything in its proper place and shut down after use.

 

The pounding of hooves broke Smith’s train of thought, and he turned with a grin to watch the road leading to his home. A chestnut mare galloped towards him, coat gleaming in the early morning sunlight. Astride the mare was a small figure, a cloak of dark green snapping in the wind behind them, and as they got closer Smith could see the impish, delicate face of his young apprentice underneath the hood.

 

The mare slowed to a canter as horse and rider drew closer, ending its journey by ambling right up to Smith and lipping affectionately at his sleeve, before nuzzling at the pockets of his trousers in hopeful query. 

 

“Oh, really Athena? You’ve not long had breakfast!”

 

“Doubt that matters much to her, lass. There’s always room for dessert.” Smith drew out a few cubes of sugar, which Athena delicately took from his palms. He ran a callused hand gently through the horses’ mane while she ate, black strands of hair catching on rough skin. Athena’s rider dismounted while her mentor and steed were occupied, sturdy brown boots splashing in the mud.

 

Smith looked up with a smile, casually sneaking Athena another sugar cube.

 

“Morning, Dot. How long do I have you for?”

 

Dot - or Princess Zelda as she was known to most everyone else - threw back the hood of her cloak to reveal brilliant ginger hair tied back with a wide red ribbon. She moved to start removing Athena’s saddle, grinning at Smith over her horses back.

 

“I’m not needed at the castle at all today. Father’s got back-to-back meetings with diplomats, mostly trade related. He says hi, by the way. There’s a scroll for you in the left hand saddlebag, I think it’s his next chess move.”

 

“Ha, it better be a good one, I’ve got him dead to rights this time. Let’s get this girl taken care of first, and then if I’ve got you all day I reckon we can get that project of yours wrapped up before dinner time.”

 

“Brilliant, I can’t wait to get that finished. It feels like I’ve been working on it forever.”

 

“No such thing as truly finishing a project, lass, there’s just a point-”

 

“-where you let it go, I know. Still feels like I’m not getting anywhere. Shouldn’t I have picked up more by now?”

 

“You’ve been learning all of a year, you’re still in early days yet. Heck, I’ve been smithing since I was of an apprentice age myself and I’m always finding things to improve on.”

 

“Somehow I find that hard to believe. You’re the best smith in the kingdom.”

 

“Aye, so I’ve been told. Wisest smith in the kingdom too, isn’t that why the Princess of Hyrule is taking lessons from me in the first place?”

 

“Mmm, absolutely. Nothing to do with the fact that you’ve literally known me since I was born and for some goddess-forsaken reason you trust me with your tools.”

 

“Why shouldn’t I trust you? I trust Link with them after all.”

 

“Well, yes, but Link never managed to set fire to a hammer.”

 

“...still not sure how you did that, if I’m honest.”

 

”Neither am I.”

 

“Still, he’s had his own set of disasters. All part of learning! I ever tell you about the time he managed to strike a knife blank in such a way it spun off the anvil and buried itself in the wall behind his head?”

 

“Oooh, no. Details please!”

 

Smith cheerfully did his grandfatherly duty by thoroughly embarrassing Link  _ in absentia _ , and this pleasant activity carried both him and Dot through getting Athena settled and getting the forge set up. Soon the echoing tones of hammers clanging against metal mingled with the crackle of the charcoal-fed fires, and underneath it all was the ebb and flow of conversation, an older, deeper voice instructing for a younger voice to follow. Under their tools the secret project took shape, edging closer to completion as the sun traced it’s path across the sky, and by dinner time, as per Smith’s confident prediction, it was done. Only the finishing touches were needed now, and they were so minor that Dot could easily complete them at home. Smith left his apprentice to finish closing down the forge, tucking the project back into it’s cloth and sliding the lot into one of Athena’s saddlebags, and was just sneaking her another sugar cube when he heard Dot call for him.

 

Hurrying into the ground floor room that served as his workshop, Smith strode over to the far side. This was equipped with a full length sliding wall that exposed the whole room to the elements and provided the ventilation that was absolutely crucial while smithing. Not everything could be done outside, after all, and having a dedicated indoor space to work made a lot of things easier. Smith had built the house himself with his profession in mind, leaving the upper floor for living space and the majority of the downstairs floor for his craft. 

 

Making his way out of the workshop via the open wall, Smith spotted Dot standing just by his outdoor anvil with something resting in her cupped hands.

 

“Smith, look! Zeffa came to visit!” Dot was absolutely beaming, holding her hands out in front of her so Smith could see their visitor. Zeffa was indeed there, feathers a little windblown. His white body feathers were puffed up, leaving him resembling nothing more than a particularly large dandelion clock, and tangled in his claws was the chain of bright blue medallion.

 

“Hello little one! Haven’t seen you in a while. To what do we owe the pleasure?” Smith wasn’t truly expecting a response, as unlike many creatures with magical tendencies Zeffa didn’t have the gift of understandable speech, but at his words Zeffa took to the air and fluttered over to a spot just down the hill from the house. Reaching the tree line, he hovered in place and dropped the blue medallion to the leaf-scattered ground.

 

The medallion sparked to life as it hit the floor, spinning out into an etched magical circle large enough to contain an entire wagon comfortably within its confines. Blue light flowed along each line of the intricate design and flickered along the edges, casting the nearby trees into odd shadows. A deep, otherworldly thrum echoed around, seemingly coming from nowhere, startling the life out of Smith and causing Dot to back up a little. They both drew their belt knives as the noise increased in volume, Smith moving in front of his apprentice in order to shield her, and both watched nervously as the circle was suddenly full of blue lines forming themselves into Hylian-shaped silhouettes.

 

There was one final flare of light, the thrum tapered off, and a group of boys promptly fell on their arses as the circle of magic disappeared into the medallion, innocently twinkling in the leaf litter.

 

Dot and Smith looked at each other, sharing a moment of utter confusion, before turning back and locking eyes with two of the new arrivals, the only ones who had managed to stay on their feet. These were a teenager mostly hidden in the folds of a voluminous black cloak, who offered them a slightly nervous wave in greeting, and a man in full armour who had discreetly taken hold of the teenagers arm in order to remain upright. Around them, the rest of their group made loud complaints as they picked themselves off the floor.

 

“That was the absolute  _ worst-” _

 

“-so weird-”

 

“-get off my leg!-”

 

“-ow, who kicked me?!”

 

“-can see why you haven’t shown us that before…” 

 

At this last sentence, a very familiar form pushed himself into a sitting position, tugging a hairband back over his forehead and grimacing as it caught on a number of dried leaves stuck in his hair. There was a snigger from the teenager, who offered him a hand up with a wry smile.

 

“It’s weird if you aren’t used to it. It’s the same kind of teleportation magic as the shrines in my world.”

 

“Yeah, I think I’ll stick with Zeffa-”

 

“Link?!”

 

He jolted at Dot’s shout, whipping around to face them and it  _ was _ him, Smith’s adventurer grandchild who’d been missing for weeks with only the occasional letter in communication. Dot ran down the hill, struggling to put her knife away at the same time, while Link waded through the bodies of his companions to meet her. They collided into a hug somewhere in the middle, the pair of them laughing and grinning madly.

 

“Where have you  _ been,  _ you absolute idiot!” Dot pulled away from Link to punch him in the arm. She was doing her damndest to sound angry, but joy had crept into her voice and her massive smile betrayed how happy she was to have her best friend home. 

 

“Ow, c’mon! Anyone would think you weren’t pleased to see me.” Link was rubbing his arm, having flinched back in what looked like genuine pain. “Your right hook has gotten stronger.”

 

“Are you surprised?” Dot flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, beaming. “I’ve been down here as much as I can since you’ve been gone, I was going to pack on some muscle eventually.”

 

“Well you’ve certainly done that.” Smith called out. He’d started to meander slowly down the hill, letting the two young people have their reunion, but clearly Link had other ideas. His eyes snapped up to meet Smith’s, and he burst into both a grin and a run as he sped up the hill towards his grandfather. He threw himself forward and straight into Smith’s arms, hands going as far around his back as they could reach and clinging, fingers tangled in his shirt. Smith gathered him close,revelling in having his only remaining family back safe and sound.

 

“Ah, I’ve missed you lad.” Smith looked down, running a hand over his grandson’s hair and feeling the gentle smile on his face widen further as Link looked up at him, eyes flickering and shifting ever so slightly as all his aspects took a turn at giving him a fierce hug. And then it was just him again, Link in harmony once more, giving him one more squeeze before breaking free and looking back at the others that had arrived with him. They were all on their feet now and being subject to a barrage of questions from this world’s resident Princess. Some were giving as good as they got, matching her questioning with impressive speed, and she was clearly delighted. Others were less enthusiastic, such as the black-cloaked teenager who had drawn his hood up and was hanging as far back from Dot as he could without leaving the group.

 

“So you’ve brought some friends back to visit? We’ll have to get some cleaning done, the spare bedrooms are still full of projects.”

 

Link looked back at him, worrying his lip slightly. “You don’t mind them staying? We can get rooms at the inn-”

 

“Now, don’t be daft. They’re more than welcome.” Smith whistled sharply, getting everyone’s attention. “Alright boys, no sense in standing around outside when we’ve got a perfectly serviceable house right there. C’mon in and let me get a good look at you all.” And with that he tramped back up the hill towards his home, Link and Dot shepherding the others after him. 

 

—-

 

When Smith was building his home, he’d made sure the kitchen was big enough to indulge both his own and his wife’s culinary experiments.

 

Alys never had much time for baking - she favoured improvisation too much to be overly successful at the more precision-based aspects of it - but she was an excellent cook otherwise and could often be found running back and forth, alternately stirring a pot in the kitchen and grinding blades in the forge. 

 

Smith, on the other hand, had developed a love for baking as a child, perched on a wooden stool at the kitchen counter with a massive apron hitched over his clothes and his mother’s hands guiding his over a rolling pin. So when he was building his home, he had made sure the oven had plenty of space for both loaves of bread and dishes of casserole. Kneading dough and folding cake batter was a soothing counterpoint to bashing iron and steel into shape. Smith suspected that the mingled scents of caramelised sugar and hot metal were embedded deep into the walls, a unique history of the house’s inhabitants.

 

Their children had been spectacularly well fed.

 

He’d make sure these children were too - hardly any of them were of age, and even the oldest of them was young in Smith’s eyes, tall and armoured and scarred as he was. There was an exhaustion to all of them he recognised as they dropped bags in the corner of the room at Link’s urging, the burden of duty and responsibility weighing them down, leaving dark shadows.

 

The sight of them had been enough to take Smith back many years to his time as a journeyman blacksmith serving the Hyrule Army, outfitting the soldiers and knights with armour and churning out sword after sword. He’d learnt from the Royal Smith himself, an old tosser named Bolger who’d had a tongue sharper than the blades he was famous for, and had managed to join the smithy just in time for the last major conflict against organised monsterkind that Hyrule had faced in living memory.

 

Smith had seen so many young men and women  march out through the gates of Castletown, all gleaming armour and proud stance, only to stumble back days later with that same awful, haunted,  _ hunted _ look that he knew now never truly faded.

 

He’d seen it most of all in Daltus, only a young knight then and hiding his title of prince like his life depended on it. A chance encounter and drunken fight  in the tavern had led to a lasting friendship, Smith wandering down to the training grounds on his days off to watch sparring practice, jeering and cheering at Daltus in equal measure, while Daltus would hang around the smithy during his downtime to alternately ask questions about the forging process and heckle Smith relentlessly. 

 

He didn’t find out his new friend was royalty until he went to visit an injured Daltus after a battle, racing through the halls with his heart in his throat, finding himself in a remote wing of the medical chambers and being grilled for a good ten minutes by Sheikah guards on his reasons for being there before being ushered into a private room. Daltus looked somehow both horribly sheepish and totally unrepentant as Smith stood glaring at him, eventually saying “Well, it would have been bloody awkward to admit I was a royal after you’d knocked two of my teeth out and I’d taken a chunk out of your ear.”

 

Smith’s composure had lasted all of three seconds more before he burst out into relieved, incredulous laughter, both he and Daltus cackling helplessly with glee while a doctor in the background begged “His Royal Highness Prince Daltus” to please calm down before he burst the stitches holding his guts together.

 

Daltus has recovered, much to the relief of Smith as well as Daltus’s parents and older brother, but he’d never been able to really speak of what he’d seen on that battlefield or any others since. The horrors of war stayed locked away deep down and only surfaced in occasional moments when Smith would see some of the fathomless pain and suffering slip onto his face at reports of evil sorcerers and growing monster threats. The responsibility for the safety of the people weighed on a soul like nothing else ever would.

 

When Link had come home the first time, when the blade he wielded was of the Picori, not the Four Sword yet, Smith had been horror-struck to see the change in his grandson and realise he knew the shadows that darkened his composure. Now here stood eight more lads, all holding that burden within them, and Smith wouldn’t hesitate to ease it where he could.

 

If that easing started with a good meal, so much the better. While he’d never quite reached Alys’s level of mastery, if there was one thing Smith could do, it was cook.

 

And smith, obviously, but that wasn’t going to be as much help at that moment.

 

Marshalling Dot and Link to pull the table out to its fully extended size and find the folding chairs stashed away in the understairs cupboard, shooing the others away from doing anything more strenuous than sitting at the table, teaming up with the group cook anyway because eleven people is a lot to feed no matter how competent you are, it all took time. But eventually they were all settled, bowls of rich soup and thick slices of crusty bread being rapidly devoured. Dot was still attempting to fire questions at them between mouthfuls, all royal manners forgotten in favour of nosiness. Half of the lads were cheerfully indulging her and the other half were enjoying the show, laughing at how one young girl was managing to throw several experienced warriors off balance, if only verbally. Link, however, looked ready to fall asleep right there at the table once he had something warm inside him, and Smith couldn’t help but worry. None of the others looked that damned tired. 

 

Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one who noticed.

 

“Woah, hey! You’ll be breathing that in soon, how long were you up last night?” One of the boys asked, making Link jolt from where his head had been slowly but surely drifting towards the tabletop. Smith was fairly certain this one was called Hyrule, but he couldn’t be sure. None of them had been properly introduced yet.

 

“He didn’t get back until near the end of my watch.” Another - Warrior or Warlock or Warden, something like that - carefully moved Link’s bowl out of the way lest he fall asleep in it.

 

“Wait, you went somewhere last night?” The little one piped up, fluffy blond hair and a sailors tan. “Why’d you leave camp without telling us?”

 

Link blinked, blearily confused. “I did tell someone, Hyrule knew I was going. I needed to do something.”

 

“In the middle of the night, for long enough that the watch swapped over while you were gone?” The oldest one this time, jokingly called the Old Man. Smith had found that hilarious - he was an old man himself after all, and this one most certainly didn’t look the part.

 

“This is my world, Time, I wasn’t in any danger.”

 

“Well, maybe only in danger of waking me.” Smith took another bite of his bread, grinning over at his suddenly guilty-looking grandson. “Unless it was a burglar that broke in last night, used the forge and then put everything away properly before I got up.”

 

Link groaned, the others grinning at him and Dot cackling gleefully. “Should have known you’d notice.”

 

“Why though?” Smith asked once the laughter died down. “This is your house too, lad, you don’t need to sneak around to get things done. What was so important it couldn’t wait until daylight hours?”

 

There was silence, and then one of the others spoke up.

 

“This.”

 

It was Wild, the young cook who had been hidden in the folds of his black cloak on arrival but had shrugged it off as soon as he had a task to do. His fingers danced across the odd black rectangular device attached to his hip before he stuck his hand into the screen. When he pulled it out, he was holding a leather-wrapped bundle, and when he unfolded it...

 

“Oh, wow!”

 

“That is gorgeous, did you make that?”

 

“Actually looks like it can keep up with him, too, that’s impressive.”

 

“Here, can I see?” Smith took the knife carefully from Wild’s outstretched hand and examined it closely, ignoring the general commotion as Link was bombarded with praise and questions. He turned it this way and that, poked and prodded and examined it any way he could think of, before nodding and handing it back to Wild.

 

“You’ll need a proper sheath. I might have one that’ll fit lurking around in the forge somewhere, a blade like that shouldn’t be hidden away. Damn fine work there, kiddo.” He turned to Link, who was blushing a little under the vast amount of praise that had suddenly been heaped upon him. “Damn fine. If you didn’t already have your mastery, you could get it with that.” 

 

“Really?”

 

“Really. You could present that as a master work, no issue, and anyone would be a fool to argue with it.”

 

Link smiled at the table, embarrassed, and his blush deepened as the knife was passed around the table to universal acclaim.

 

“Okay, as cool as that is - and it is, that’s seriously nice work and I want one - since when were you that damn quick at making blades?” Dot swatted at Link’s shoulder. “At this rate, I'm never going to catch up!”

 

“It’s not a race, and anyway, I’ve been smithing longer than you have! I’ve got my mastery, I’m going to be quicker.”

 

Dot dropped her head into one palm, sighing heavily. Link patted her shoulder.

 

“It just takes  _ practice.” _

 

“You can’t use my own words against me!”

 

“But it  _ does,  _ it just takes  _ practice.” _

 

“Piss off! That was me trying to teach you badminton, it’s completely different and I’m sure I wasn’t that sarcastic.”

 

“My word, such language from the Princess of Hyrule! What kind of company have you been keeping?” 

 

“Your grandfather, so what does that say about you?!” There was a full on shoving match happening at the table now, Dot’s increased strength evening the odds slightly, but it slowed as both teens realised the rest of the table (Smith excluded) were staring at them.

 

“...What?”

 

“You’re Four’s Zelda?!?”

 

“I...yes? Who’s Four?”

 

And so the two natives of this Hyrule were introduced to the idea of alternate timelines, other heroes of courage and the general confusion that was the Linked Universe.

\---

 

Dot took off for the castle after dinner, refusing every offer of escort, claiming that with the remaining daylight, her own defensive skills and the relative safety of the kingdom that she would have no issues. She did, however, agree to send a message via Zeffa that she had got home safely when it was clear the boys were not going to back down, and she was as good as her word. Her message also contained Daltus’s answer to Smith’s last chess move, the one that he’d tucked into Athena’s saddle bags when he’d shown Dot where her project was. 

 

Unfortunately Daltus’s move was half-decent, and Smith was going to have to think hard to get the upper-hand once again, but there was time enough for that.

 

Getting everyone bedded down was another battle entirely. The two spare rooms were scattered with half-complete projects, a mix of Smith’s, Four’s and a few of Alys’s that Smith couldn’t bear to get rid off. Mixed in with these were general clutter, such as old clothes and sentimental knick-knacks, and a good few items left over from Four’s adventures that didn’t fit into his own room. Four ended up splitting to help Smith re-organise the rooms, having explained the circumstances behind the group learning about that particular ability over dinner much to Smith and Dot’s combined horror, and together the five of them shifted and tidied the rooms enough that everyone would be comfortable. 

 

The moon had risen by the time they finished. At some point while the others were all gathered around the fire, having been banished there by Four in the name of hospitality, Sky had dozed off. Seeing as someone would have had to take the sofa anyway considering Four and Smith only had so many spare beds, they made sure he was comfortable and left him to sleep. After a quick discussion about who would share with who and a round of goodnights, they all retired for the evening. One by one the candles were blown out, and a comfortable silence settled over the house.

 

\---

 

Consciousness returned to Four in a violent burst, the remnants of the nightmare leaving him shaking in the blankets while his awakening gasp echoed in the silent, dark room.

 

For long minutes he lay there, trying to calm his racing heart, while an icy wind breezed through the open window to crawl across any exposed skin, leaving goosebumps and a horrible pins-and-needles sensation in its wake.

 

The chill became too much to bear once his pulse had returned to normal. As quietly as possible he slipped out from under the covers, doing his best not to jostle Legend or Wind who were tangled together on the other side of the double bed and who both remained, thankfully, asleep. An involuntary shiver swept through him as his bare feet hit the floor, the room far colder than it should be. The stupid half-broken window latch had fallen, letting one side of the window swing open  _ yet again _ , and as Four crossed the room to close it he wondered when he’d finally remember to fix the damn thing.

 

Probably not for a while. If ever.

 

He was wide awake now, not relishing the idea of crawling back into bed and laying there trying and failing to fall asleep again. Thankfully he had an established routine for nights like this at home, as the living room fireplace was left to burn down overnight behind a fire guard and would still be letting out plenty of heat. He could bundle up in a blanket and sit near it until he warmed up, and maybe even manage to fall asleep again on the sofa if he was lucky.

 

That decided, he tugged a quilt free from the small pile of them that had accumulated on top of one of his storage chests. Shaking it open and wrapping it around his shoulders, Four slipped out of his bedroom and into the living room with the quilt trailing behind him like a ridiculously oversized robe.

 

He approached the sofa from the back, the whole thing outlined in a warm glow from the fireplace on the other side, and just as he rounded the side of it a muffled snore filled the room.

 

Sky had stretched out in his sleep, socked feet tucked against the armrest on one side, poking out from under the sailcloth and blanket that someone had draped over him earlier. One arm dangled to the floor, fingers brushing the wooden boards.

 

He looked so peaceful Four could almost forgive him for ruining his half-formed plans of dozing off on the sofa.

 

A quiet rustle caught his attention.

 

Wolfie was watching him from the sheepskin rug set before the fire, laying on his belly with Wild leaning into his side, flicking through the photographs on his slate. As he and Four spotted each other, Wild jolted in surprise before registering who it was and relaxing back into his previous position.

 

“Didn’t expect anyone else to be up.”

 

Four sighed, tugging his quilt back over his shoulders. “It’s not intentional. Much rather be asleep but…”

 

“Yeah, I get it.” Wild shuffled over, making enough room against Wolfie’s side for Four to join them on the rug. Four accepted gratefully, dropping to the floor and slouching back against the warm, furry body of his friend, being shifted ever so slightly as Wolfie took deep, relaxed breaths. The flames danced and crackled behind the metal spark guard, the only sound in the room for several minutes as all three awake heroes watched the fire.

 

“What’s that thing for?”

 

“What’s what thing for?”

 

“The wire panel in front of the fireplace.”

 

“Oh! That’s a spark guard. Stops sparks from flying out into the room. Stops spitting coals coming out as well, when we use them in the winter.”

 

“It would have been good to know these existed  _ before _ the rug got set on fire that one time.”

 

Four couldn’t help it, he snorted. “Oh no, how bad was it?”

 

“Well I don’t have a rug by the fireplace any more, but I do have some very singed floorboards.” Wild smirked, flickering light playing over his face. “I thought it was payback from Hylia over the amount of stuff I’ve set alight since I woke up, but flying sparks make a lot more sense.”

 

“I know we tease you about being a pyromaniac but you can’t be so bad that it would require divine retribution.”

 

“...I have set forests on fire.”

 

“...You’re kidding. This is an ‘I fought the moon’ story isn’t it?”

 

“Nope. All accidental, but still, I actually have set multiple forests on fire. Twi can back me up on this, he saw it at least twice.”

 

A  _ boof  _ echoed from Wild’s other side, and he moved to scritch behind Wolfie’s ears.

 

“Twilight, I am officially in awe of your restraint. I would have killed him multiple times over for pulling stupid stunts like that.”

 

“There is far worse he could have killed me for, believe me.”

 

“Oh, I believe you.”

 

Wolfie chuffed, amused, and his tail thumped against Four’s leg a couple of times before settling it in his lap.

 

“You want to talk about what’s keeping you awake?” Wild bumped his elbow into Four’s side, voice quiet and curious.

 

“Eh.” Four dropped his head back against Wolfie. “Nightmare. You?”

 

“Same. Snuck out of the room to clear my head but I’d already woken Twi up seeing as he decided to go furry and sleep across mine and Time’s  _ legs.”  _ He broke off to glare at the wolf, who didn’t bother acknowledging him. A shiver rippled through Wild’s body, making both Hylian-shaped boys frown. 

 

“So you remembered to bring your wolf but not a blanket?” Four teased, pulling his quilt from over his shoulders and spreading it over their laps instead.

 

“I wasn’t going to risk waking up Time as well by rummaging around in my bag for one.” Wild wriggled down into the fabric a little. “Thanks. It’s a good job you’re prepared.”

 

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had a rubbish night. I usually come out here to try and fall asleep again when it happens, since it’s warmer out here than in my room when the fire’s going.”

 

“Does it ever work?”

 

“I’ll drift off on the sofa sometimes. I used to just sit on the rug like this but Grandad kept tripping over me in the morning.”

 

“That’s what you get for being so small and getting under everyone’s feet.”

 

“Har-de-har-har. What wit! Truly, I have never heard such jests before.”

 

“Alright, alright, stop poking me! You’ll wake Sky.”

 

“You’ll wake Sky if you go around screeching like that.”

 

“Get away with your pointy elbows!”

 

\---

 

The two boys in the living room were trying to muffle their giggles now, their quiet chat having devolved into what sounded like gentle roughhousing. Neither of them noticed the closest bedroom door open and Smith stick his head out. He’d developed something of a sixth sense for when Link had a disturbed night, and although experience had taught him that he would usually rather be left alone it had never stopped him from unobtrusively checking on his grandson anyway. Quirking an eyebrow in surprise at the commotion on the floor, he glanced over at the wolf laying behind them. Said wolf shot him a look of exasperation and a truly impressive eye-roll, before heaving itself to its feet. Both Link and Wild were knocked off balance and abruptly fell to the floor, and as they struggled to collect themselves the wolf turned around, trotted over their legs and dropped down with a  _ huff, _ pinning them in place.

 

Smith snorted and retreated back into his room to the sound of muffled complaining. It was nice to know Link had others looking out for him, people he could turn to rather than suffering through nights like this alone.

 

He did wonder where on earth that wolf came from, though. Random wildlife in his house was probably something to question, no matter how friendly they appeared to be.

 

Ah well. He’d find out soon enough. It was earlier than he usually started the day, but there were quite a few more people to make breakfast for than normal. He’d rescue the boys once he’d finished getting up.

 

\---

 

“Was that actually necessary?”

 

“Oof, I had no idea you were this heavy as Wolfie.”

 

“Oh just wait, you won’t be able to feel your legs soon. You know how you said you would have killed me for pulling stupid stunts? This is what he did instead. Sat on me so he didn’t have to worry that I’d run off and get into more trouble.”

 

“Eeesh.”

 

“...”

 

“Well, I guess we don’t have to be worried about being cold now.”

 

“Oh yeah. Brilliant. Wonderful. Stuck under the world’s heaviest fur coat with our legs going all 

pins-and-needles, but we aren’t cold.”

 

“And I imagine you aren’t going to move any time soon?” Four sat up as far as he could, leaning over to catch Wolfie’s eye. He could have sworn there was a smirk on their resident shapeshifters’ furry face as he closed his eyes and shook his head. Four dropped back down with a sigh.

 

After a few minutes, they had gotten bored enough to play ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’.

 

A few minutes after that, when Four was trying to figure out how Wild had managed to win nearly every game, they were interrupted by footsteps and a large shadow falling over them.

 

“Mornin’.” Smith was standing at their feet, hands in pockets and grinning. “Interesting predicament you’re in there.” 

 

“Hi Grandad.”

 

“Good morning, sir.”

 

“Oi, none of that now lad, I told you all to call me Smith. Now then,” Smith said as he moved to crouch by Wolfie’s head. “Shall I get these two out of your fur? I could use a hand with breakfast and you could probably do with a bit of peace and quiet.”

 

Wolfie blinked, considering it, and then with a stretch and a yawn he lifted himself to his feet and allowed Four and Wild to escape his clutches. As they kicked the quilt off and attempted to get blood flowing back to their legs, Wolfie yawned once more, leaned heavily against Smith’s leg for a moment in acknowledgement and then ambled over to the door of the bedroom where Time still slept. As he reached it there was a sudden burst of oddly geometric shadows, and Twilight went through the door on two legs with the last few shadowy rectangles still clinging to him.

 

“Huh.” Smith hadn’t taken his eyes off the door, even as it swung shut. “That explains that.”

 

Four winced a little, partly from returning blood flow and partly from realisation. “Sorry, a wolf suddenly appearing in the house was probably a bit strange.”

 

“That did throw me for a second earlier, I won’t lie.” Smith headed towards the stairs, the boys hot on his heels. “But we aren’t strangers to the strange around here.”

 

“That’s true. You do sometimes have four near-identical grandsons running around.”

 

Smith chuckled as he continued on, leading the way into the kitchen. He filled the kettle and set it over the fire, waving away Wild’s offer to help. “I suppose with nine heroes travelling together there were bound to be a few odd abilities cropping up here and there.”

 

Wild chucked, seating himself at the dining table with Four. “Oh, we’ve all got something interesting about us.”

 

“Bet you have a few stories from your time on the road, too.” Smith joined them, plonking an old, well used set of scales on the table and starting to measure out some flour. “Any good ones?”

 

Four and Wild glanced at each other, grinning. “Well, there was this one time…”

 

\---

 

Time awoke, habit of a lifetime of early mornings, and judging by the weak dawn light filtering in through the heavy curtains he was probably one of the first awake. Sometimes he envied the ability of the others to sleep in a little when it was safe to do so.

 

It took a moment to realise that his legs weren’t currently being squashed by nearly a hundred pounds of wolf, and half-formed confusion had him starting to get out of bed when a mumble stopped him in his tracks. Buried under the blankets at his side was Twilight, human-shaped and hair a disaster. As he watched, bemused, Twilight rolled onto his back, glared sleepily at Time, grabbed the blankets that Time had dislodged and yanked them back around his head.

 

Shuffling up to sit against the headboard, Time let out an amused snort and attempted to peel the covers away from Twilight, getting shoved and kicked several times for his trouble.

 

“C’mon Pup, you’ll suffocate under there if you aren’t careful.” Time managed to wriggle a hand into the blanket fortress, find the nearest patch of bare skin and press chilly fingers against it.

 

A yelp, half shock and half offense, was his answer, and he just caught sight of a bleary, irritated expression before Twilight nailed him straight in the face with his pillow.

 

Time was full-on snickering as the pillow dropped into his lap, snickering that died abruptly as he took in the deep shadows under his protege’s eyes.

 

Twilight had noticed. “You’re staring, old man.” He grabbed the pillow off of Time’s lap and shoved it back under his head, rolling onto his side so he could see better and blinking at the concern on Time’s face.

 

“You look worse off than Four did at dinner, what happened?”

 

“It’s not-” Twilight was interrupted by a huge yawn, one that stretched his mouth slightly wider than should have been possible and showed off slightly-too-pointed teeth. “-that bad.” 

 

It only took a few seconds of Time’s famous eyebrow of judgement before Twi caved.

 

“...Wild had a rough night. I sat up with him until an hour or so ago.”

 

“Where is he?” The room was noticeably absent of it’s third occupant, Wild’s bag still perched on the seat of a nearby chair with his cloak draped over the back. 

 

“Smith took him and Four downstairs to get breakfast started.” At Time’s questioning glance, shot over his shoulder as Time slid his legs off the edge of the bed and bent down to wrestle his boots on, Twilight elaborated. “Four came and sat with us for a bit. Nightmares.” 

 

They shared a sympathetic glance, one standing and stretching and one burrowed back under the bedcovers. Nightmares and night terrors were common among the group (how could they not be, with the trails they had all faced?) but it didn't stop them from wishing there was some way to spare the others that particular side effect of saving the world.

 

“I’ll go see if they need any help.” Time reached down and pulled one of the blankets a little tighter around Twilight’s shoulders. “Do you want me to come get you when breakfast is ready?”

 

“Mmm, please.”

 

Twilight was already dozing off again as Time left the room. 

 

With one teammate accounted for and on his way to check on two more, Time made sure to look in on the others. Hyrule and Warriors both jolted awake as Time cracked the door to their room open but settled back down when Time whispered an apology and were asleep again within seconds, Hyrule drowning in Warriors’ spare nightshirt, loaned to him when his own had caught on something sharp in his bag and ripped right across the chest. Legend and Wind had taken over the whole bed in Four’s room, Wind sprawled out face down with one of Legend’s arms trapped between him and the mattress while Legend had claimed the rest of the space and resembled nothing more than an extremely self-satisfied starfish. Neither of them moved a muscle as Time pulled the door closed.

 

Sky was quiet as Time passed by the sofa. His sailcloth had fallen off at some point during the night, so Time tucked it back around him along with the quilt that had been abandoned on the floor nearby. A few strands of wolf fur were stuck to it, dark against the faded floral pattern, and a couple of them fell away as Sky shifted contentedly under the extra weight. He didn’t stir again even as Time stubbed his foot on the end table on his way to the stairs and muttered a few curses under his breath.

 

The sound of laughter grew in volume as he made his way into the kitchen, the brightness in the room causing him to pause in the doorway and let his eyes adjust. Four was seated at the table, using a small blade to slash designs into the top of risen bread dough before handing them off to his grandfather to place in the oven. Wild was stood at the range stirring a pot of something viscous-looking and dark, apparently on the tail end of a story.

 

“...which is when the bear finally decided it’d had enough and shook me off. Nearly sent me down a ravine!” Wild gestured with the hand that wasn’t occupied, tracing a wide, sweeping parabola in the air. Four was laughing so hard he’d had to put the blade down, clutching the edge of the table with white-knuckled fingers. Smith was leaning on the wall next to the oven, smile growing wider and wider as the story progressed.

 

“And,” Wild continued, tapping his wooden spoon on the edge of the pot, knocking what looked suspiciously like jam off the end. “You can check that with Twi, because, sadly, he had just arrived in my world and was watching the entire thing from a nearby hill.” Wild’s grin turned rueful. “He stole all of the flint out of my bag and buried it, and when I made it back to my campsite he’d got hold of all my fire arrows and was chewing the shafts to pieces. Needless to say, he made his point, and I haven’t set any forests on fire since.”  He paused. “As far as he knows, anyway.”

 

Smith finally gave up the battle with his amusement and full on guffawed, long and loud. Once he had regained his composure, he pushed himself off the wall and strode over to the range. Together he and Wild moved the heavy pot to the table, where several glass jars were waiting to be filled, and as it was set down Smith caught sight of Time standing in the doorway.

 

“Alright, lad? Did we wake you?”

 

Time shook his head, smile pulling at his lips. “Early riser, I live on a ranch. Body won’t let me wake up late anymore.”

 

“Ah, I feel you there. Being a Smithy means you get the privilege of waking up at the crack o’ dawn to light the forge, and then when your children are born you forget what sleeping in looks like altogether.” Smith dropped into a chair, leaning over to poke at his grandson. “Don’t smirk at me, kiddo, you were no different. I saw the sun set and rise more than once without sleep in between thanks to you and your bloody powerful lungs.”

 

“Grandad!”

 

Time joined them at the table, nodding gratefully at Wild as he passed him a mug of coffee. “Imagine if he’d had the ability to split back then.”

 

“Ha, no thank you. I’ve not had more than two children living in this house at any one time, and I'm grateful for it. I wouldn’t have survived more than one Link, unholy terror that he was.”

 

“Oh my goddess,  _ stop.” _

 

Time chucked into his coffee. “Speaking of unholy terrors,” he glanced over at Wild, who had suddenly become very interested in filling the jam jars, “Do I want to know the rest of that particular story, or should I just thank Twilight for putting a stop to it, however temporary?”

 

“Look, it wasn’t like I meant to set the bear on fire in the first place-.”

 

“-And that’s my answer.”

 

“-So, moving swiftly on, where is Twi?”

 

“Still asleep, hopefully.” Time accepted a chunk of freshly baked bread from Four, ripping it in two and watching the steam curl in the air before him. “I said I’d wake him for breakfast, but I’ll probably wait until the others are up. He could do with a bit longer in bed.”

 

Wild’s face fell, and Time cursed, silently. 

 

“Oh  _ fuck, _ I kept him up all damn night didn’t I?” Wild dropped his head into his palms, groaning. When he lifted it again, Time couldn’t help but notice the deep shadows hollowed under his eyes.

 

“And I kept you both up after that, so don’t go blaming yourself.” Four shoved the butter dish across the table and against Wild’s hand. His own eyes were similarly lined, shoulders slumping with exhaustion.

 

“He would have stayed up with you even if you had tried to send him back to bed.” Time patted Wild’s shoulder. “You know what he’s like.”

 

“Overprotective?”

 

“Well, there is that. I was going to say caring.”

 

“Caring that sometimes does a nosedive straight into overprotective territory?”

 

“That sounds about right.” With a gentle squeeze Time let go and wrapped his hand back around the warm mug. “We’ve all been guilty of that a time or two, though. You didn’t let this one out of your sight for days after we left the temple.” He nodded at Four, who was spreading quite a lot of jam over his bread.

 

“Also, the tunic.” Four added, passing Time the jar. Wild looked as if he were about to protest, but thought better of it.

 

“Okay, that’s fair.”

 

They were interrupted by the sound of horse-tack clattering and a few muffled snorts from outside, and before long Dot strode in, knocking mud off her boots at the doorway.

 

“Hello, lass! We weren’t expecting you till later!”

 

“I can’t stay long I’m afraid, Father wants me to sit in on morning court, but I couldn’t wait until this afternoon.” Dot dug around in the pocket of her riding tunic, pulling out a box-shaped object wrapped in a scrap of damask fabric and handing it to Four. She hovered next to him as he inspected it, hands behind her back to hide the slight tremor running through then.

 

“...this looks an awful lot like your curtains.”

 

“I couldn’t find anything else nice enough to wrap it in, I’m sure no-one will notice, please just open it before I lose my nerve.” Dot’s voice rose in pitch and volume as she spoke, ending quite shrilly. She studiously ignored everyone else at the table, including Smith who was trying to shoot her a reassuring look, and fixed her eyes on where Four was untying the ribbon holding the fabric together. As it was unwrapped, the top of the box was pulled off completely, and what was inside was revealed.

 

The quatrefoil brooch was simply made but solid, an open design, four-leaf clover shape with no fancy twists in the metal or engraving. The shape was even and symmetrical (as it should be, there were more than a dozen failed attempts tucked in the scrap pile that were a testament to how hard Dot had practiced to get it perfect.) and the pin was sturdy but still thin enough go through most weaves of fabric. It was polished to a high shine, the bronze catching the first proper rays of light coming in through the window.. The only adornments were four small gemstones set in the metal, one in each ‘corner’. Green, red, blue and violet.

 

Silence reigned for a moment, Four lifting the brooch out of the box and running his fingers over the face of it, before Dot’s nerve ran out.

 

“Look, I know it’s not very good, I’ve only just started after all but I wanted to make you something and it needed to be something you could actually  _ use, _ and you always just knot your cloak closed and tuck it into your tunic and that can’t be very comfortable, and, oh, I know it’s very rough and a child could probably do better - you know what, forget it, give it here, I’ll practice more and make a better one-.”

 

“-You really made this for me?”

 

Four was holding it, ever so gently, and he’d leaned away from Dot’s grabbing hands. He looked up at her, eyes wide.

 

“...Well  _ obviously, _ who else am I going to go around making cloak-pins for.”

 

Four stood, gently handed the pin to Wild, turned to face Dot and pulled her into a tight hug.

 

“It’s brilliant. Don’t you dare take it back.”

 

Smith sighed, content, flicking his gaze between the two life-long friends stood beside the table, embracing, and the two young men admiring the brooch. Upstairs, there were multiple footsteps as more of their guests awoke, and soon the kitchen would be full of chatter and laughter, and a great deal of admiration. And he had figured out how to checkmate Daltus. 

 

It was shaping up to be a beautiful morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things!
> 
> Correspondence chess is usually done done over the internet nowadays, but traditionally it was through snail-mail and can still be played that way. Daltus and Smith have had a game going constantly since they were in their twenties and don’t intend to stop anytime soon.
> 
> *
> 
> I have a headcannon that at certain times in Hyrule’s history, members of the royal family took to picking up a ‘normal’ job or trade from their teens onwards in order to help them stay close to their subjects and the reality of life outside the palace, in the hope that it would make them more empathetic to their subjects needs. Daltus went into the army, found it awful but necessary and was relieved when Dot took up the more peaceful trade of smithing. If you’re curious, Dot’s mother is an excellent fletcher.
> 
> *
> 
> The quatrefoil brooch is a real thing, generally used to fasten clothing or for jewellery, which blacksmiths made during the medieval period. They could be very ornate and made with precious metals like gold, but they aren’t very practical for everyday and not exactly achievable for an apprentice like Dot, so the one she made is much simpler and far more useful.
> 
> *
> 
> One of the ‘wa’ names suggested by google when I was looking up names for Warrior during the dinner scene was Waluigi
> 
> WALUIGI EVERYONE

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!


End file.
